D&D Monsters: Djinn

The djinn originate in Middle Eastern mythology; they are typically associated with Islamic beliefs today, but pre-date that religion. They were originally human-like beings with magical powers, perhaps associated with a creation preceding that of humans and, at least by Islamic times, were regarded as neither inherently good nor evil. In modern western culture, they are mainly thought of as granting wishes and being trapped in lamps, ideas that come from an 18th-century edition of One Thousand and One Nights, although the specific legend is presumably older - they are not part of the original concept of djinn.

In D&D, djinn are described as powerful inhabitants of the Elemental Plane of Air, since many  (although by no means all) of the magical powers associated with them in myth are linked with the air. In the game, the alternative Anglicised name for the beings, "genie", instead refers to a broader category of being, of which the djinn are merely one of the most common. While the wish-granting, oil lamp dwelling, sort of djinn are stated to exist in the universe they are, at best, extremely rare and not typical representatives of their kind.

D&D Monsters: Golems

The golem is a creature of Jewish myth; a man formed of clay, as Adam was said to have been, and brought to life by a skilled rabbi. This usually involves a holy word, either written on parchment and placed in the golem's mouth or carved directly into its forehead. The resulting golem works as a servitor, and is incapable of speech. In the most famous version of the tale, it eventually goes berserk when its creator forgets to deactivate it on the Sabbath, and it ends up breaking the holy commandment not to work at such times.

In D&D, however, the word is used for a much larger class of creatures, humanoid forms made of pretty well any material and animated to serve their creator. Some of these, too, have a habit of going berserk, although the trigger for doing so is decidedly more random.

---

Clay Golem

The clay golem is, of course, the one that most closely resembles the being in the original myth. In this respect, it's notable that it has to be created by a powerful priest (and, in, 1E, specifically a priest of a benevolent deity), rather than a wizard or necromancer. In 1E, it is shown as a humanoid figure sculpted from clay and apparently wearing a loincloth. For all we can tell from the picture, this might be a part of the moulded clay, just an artistic convention by its creator, but, from 2E onwards, we're told that a leather jockstrap is an essential accoutrement for all clay golems.

One has to question why this might be, and the only reasonable answer seems to be that the earth elemental required to animate the clay body won't do so unless it's, ahem... anatomically accurate. Why the earth elemental might insist on this, however, is a bit of a mystery, and it's compounded by the fact that it's manifestly not true of the clay golems in the 2E and 5E illustrations - which, of course, also are not wearing the garment that the accompanying text says they are. This is because the 2E clay golem has been sculpted as if it's wearing a full set of clothing and armour (which are surely part of its body) and the 5E version is a particularly crude sculpture that lacks nose, ears, or toes, and only has four digits on each hand. And if you can put up with those bits missing, it's hard to see why you'd insist on another body part you'd have no conceivable use for.

The description also implies, incidentally, that nobody creates golems in a female image. (Apparently, at least one such is mentioned in Jewish tales of the beings). 

The 5E version also looks as if it's formed from regular, moist, clay and this is implied to be true for most of the others as well. The exception seems to be that clothed 2E clay golem, which resembles one of the terracotta soldiers in the tomb of the first Chinese emperor in our world and, as such, is implied to be earthenware ceramic - that is, fired clay, not the raw material.

As described in 1E, the clay golem is invulnerable to most weapons, even if they are magic, and can only be affected by a few spells specifically intended to damage earthen material. While it's understandable that stabby weapons, such as spears or rapiers, wouldn't do much to something that lacks any internal organs, it's harder to see why axes and swords can't, say, lop a limb off... one would have thought they'd be more effective on a homogenous non-brittle material than a mace would be, but there you go. 

The 3E version isn't quite so invulnerable, although it's still pretty hard to hurt, and while the original was at least easy to hit, this one has very impressive armour. It's as strong as a hill giant, while being considerably smaller and, for that matter, is also slightly shorter than in 1E. It still moves slowly and clumsily except when it puts on brief bursts of magical speed. For some odd reason, it is healed by strong acids, which one would otherwise expect to chemically alter the composition of the clay, but have little effect on its integrity one way or the other. Much of this remains true in 5E, although the resistances are downplayed and there's no additional resistance to sharp weapons. 

---

Stone Golem

The stone golem is essentially an animated statue, something that's common enough in myth and fiction, but would not be described as a 'golem' in such a context. We're specifically told that, so long as they're humanoid in form, stone golems can be carved in whatever way the creator wants. Which explains both the stylised forms shown in 1E and 5E and the more realistic statuary of 2E... doubtless many other looks are possible in a range of artistic styles. Presumably, the more powerful earth elementals used to power them are less bothered by anatomical form than are the weaker ones used to animate the lesser golems.

It's also clear from 3E that there's no requirement for a stone golem to be a specific size (as seems to be the case for the clay version), since some exceptionally large ones are stated to exist. The cost of the enchantment probably makes the construction of small ones non-profitable, but otherwise the main limitation may be getting a large enough piece of solid stone and the inconvenience of using something too big to enter castles or whatever.

While flesh and clay golems are inclined to go berserk, following their inspirations in horror movies and mythic legend, stone golems are much more dependable. They remain slow-moving, doubtless because of their ponderous weight - the quoted figure of 2,000 lbs (900 kg) given in 3E is probably about right given the stated height of the golem and the density of granite. The latter is said to be the preferred construction material and explains the impressive armour rating in 3E; the lower rating in 1E is probably due to the fact that you need a decent magical weapon to damage them at all in that edition and hitting them isn't really the problem.

The downside of constructing your golem from stone, on the other hand, is that, compared with clay and iron, it should be much harder to repair if it gets damaged. Indeed, 3E does say that it takes magic to do this, presumably by bonding separated chips of stone back together again. A bonus is that its signature power allows it to slow the movement of other beings around it, possibly by infusing them with earth elemental energy and increasing their density.

---

Iron Golem

The original version of the iron golem appears to be a manlike piece of iron statuary, possibly cast in a single block. All later versions, however, are shown as mobile suits of armour although, as with the stone golem, we're specifically told that many different forms are possible. Whether there's anything inside the suit of armour or it's simply hollow isn't apparent from the 2E illustration, and is arguable from the 5E one, which at least looks to have a solid hinge at the elbows. In 3E, however, there are some internal struts and pistons clearly visible in places, suggesting something of a more mechanical nature than is the case for the stone golem.

Such automata do figure in Greek myths, with perhaps the closest resemblance being to Talos, a creation of Hephaestos, the smithing god. He was bronze, however, not iron, something that may have been felt to sound less effective in a post-Bronze Age fantasy world. Or the iron golem may simply be an attempt to have something that's basically a robot in D&D, without all the troubling electronics - although rather more robot-like creatures have been introduced to the game since.

As one might expect, an iron golem is difficult to injure absent spells that specifically target metal. It is hampered by lightning, which might well be expected to have some effect on conductive metal, but intense heat is actually beneficial, apparently allowing the softer red-hot metal to meld back into its original shape as if it were being forged. (Of course, a sufficiently hot blast furnace ought to melt it, but then iron isn't known for its resistance to acid either, and that seemingly does nothing to it).

Like all standard golems, it moves slowly, and is as strong as giant much larger than itself - although exactly how strong does vary between editions. This is probably due to a combination of its iron composition being able to sustain more stress than fleshy muscle and the fact that it likely doesn't feel pain and can't be exhausted. As with other golems made from inanimate matter, it must be using the senses of the elemental that animates it, since it doesn't have any natural eyes - although it is notable that its darkvison is superior to that of a regular elemental, so it may be boosted in some way.

An oddity of the iron golem is its ability to spew poison gas. While some of the automatons in Greek myth (although not Talos) could breathe fire, poison gas is a different matter. It might be inspired by the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts, which features Talos, looking very similar to the 1E illustration. In that film, Talos is animated by poison gas, although he is destroyed once it escapes from his body.

That's clearly very different from the iron golem, which uses poison gas as a deliberate attack that can be rapidly regenerated. While a golem could potentially have some sort of chemical crucible inside it that can mix reagents to create the gas, it doesn't appear to need restocking, and it doesn't eat, so it seems unlikely that the gas is created by any mundane (al)chemical process. Likely, there is some kind of chamber and attached piping, but the gas may be created magically - taking nitrogen and oxygen from the air to make nitrogen dioxide, for example, but without the need for high temperature and a platinum catalyst.

DW Monsters: The Ambassadors

Having completed the seven key humanoid aliens of the show (other than the Time Lords themselves), I’m now going to turn to aliens that appeared less frequently, as well as those that are less humanoid in form. One of the ground rules here is that I will still be looking at races, and not at beings that are said to be unique, or that are unusual or “high level” examples of their kind. I’ll also pass over races that aren’t, in terms of basic game statistics, especially notable, most often because they’re physically indistinguishable from humans.

I’m going to approach this by running through the eras of the various TV incarnations of the Doctor. The first batch consists of “monsters” and other aliens that appear during the Third Doctor’s era, of which there are quite a few.

•        Spearhead from Space is the Third Doctor’s debut story, and features the autons.
•         Doctor Who and the Silurians is the debut for the eponymous reptiles.

D&D Monsters: Flesh Golems

The flesh golem, as depicted in D&D, is quite clearly based on Frankenstein's Monster. This, of course, has its origin in Mary Shelley's original story, but it's probably fair to say that most people's perceptions of the creature are more heavily influenced by the take on it in the Universal Pictures horror films of the 1930s. So it is with the flesh golem, which owes rather more to the movie version than to that in the novel, despite attempts to transform its look from 2E onwards.

---

1E

The debt to Frankenstein's Monster is particularly clear in the 1E illustration, which gives the golem the high, almost cylindrical head seen in the 1930s film version. Otherwise, the golem is an animated humanoid apparently stitched together from pieces of human body; it is hairless with a lantern jaw and distinct brow ridges. It is stated to be 7½ feet (230cm) tall which, given that this is obviously taller than the vast majority of humans, implies that either the magical process which creates it enlarges the original body parts or that multiple pieces are grafted together to make the body. 

D&D Monsters: Pixies

Pixies are a form of fairy originally found in the folklore of southwest England, specifically Devon and Cornwall. They are typically more benign than many other fairies, but still mischievous and inclined to cause trouble for humans. In D&D, they were one of four races of fairy-like beings in the original Monster Manual, and seem to be intended as a bit of light-hearted relief, a potentially humorous inconvenience, rather than dangerous monsters to be slain. Of the four originals, they are the only ones to remain in the core monster books for both third and fifth editions.

---

1E

As originally described, pixies look much like elves, except for being only 2'6" (75cm) tall. Or at least, that's what the text says, since the pixie in the picture looks a lot smaller than this. Assuming that the stated figure is accurate, however, it's still a good four inches (10 cm) shorter than a typical two-year-old human child. This makes them the tallest of the four fairy races, and far closer in height to a halfling than, say, a dwarf is to a human.  More distinctively, of course, they have two pairs of wings projecting from their back, which look to be similar to those of a dragonfly. 

They are highly intelligent, much more so than the average human, but, as one might expect, physically rather weak. Even when they are visible, they are not especially easy to hit, and this probably implies high natural agility as well as them simply being a small target. They seem moderately gregarious, typically being encountered in groups of a dozen or so, although there's no indication of how their society might work. That there's no indication of more powerful individuals among them may well imply an egalitarian culture and it's notable that they all have a fair amount of innate magic. Like most other non-human races in this edition, they speak their own language, which is specifically distinct from that of the sprites, their smaller and more benevolent counterparts.

2E adds that they are vegetarian and nocturnal and have societies based on family ties - which implies that they reproduce like humans do, rather than being some sort of purely magical spirit. Their wings are said to be silvery, and to resemble those of moths.

---

3E

In 3E, the wings now resemble those of a bee more than anything else. They have the same height as before, but we're told that they typically weigh around 30 lbs (13 kg). This is a typical weight for a 2-year-old human... which, remember, is notably taller than a full-grown pixie. When we add this to the fact that the pixie in the illustration is unnaturally thin by human standards, he would have to be much denser than a human - perhaps due to heavy bones - for this to make sense. Most likely, they're quite a lot lighter.

Most of the detailed numbers provided for the stats are in line with what we had in 1E; the intelligence score remains the same, they're physically weak, but highly agile, and so on. Their acute senses weren't mentioned before, but seem a logical extrapolation. They have, however, shifted to a "good" alignment, and we're told that they go out of their way to fight evil. Rather than just mucking about, as they did before. Some of this may be due to a fusion of the pixie with the sprites of earlier editions since the latter are now a general category of which pixies are a part, rather than a distinct race. 

They also live in larger groups than before, with "tribes" of about 50 individuals being common. They now speak the same language as most other fey - and, for that matter, centaurs. A slightly less physical nature is implied by the fact that they're difficult to hurt without using "cold iron" - a term that, in reality, simply means "iron or steel used to make weapons", but, in D&D tends to imply something a bit more special.

---

5E

Pixies have drastically shrunk in this edition, now being only one foot tall (30cm) - much smaller in comparison to a halfling than a halfling is to a human, and, indeed, smaller than the smallest of the 1E fairy types (the brownie, at 1'6"). Their skin is green, not caucasian, and, no longer cadaverously thin, they have childlike bodily proportions, if a comparatively adult figure. The wings of the one in the illustration resemble those of a butterfly, but we're specifically told that there is some variation in wing-form between different pixies, so the various different forms we've seen up to this point aren't necessarily contradictory.

They have to maintain concentration to stay invisible, which isn't especially hard but isn't quite the innate invisibility of 1E, either. The resistance to regular damage and vulnerability to "cold iron" have both gone, and they're even punier than they were before, as befits their smaller size. A significant change is that they are now no more intelligent than humans, although they retain their inherent charm and heightened senses. They have also abandoned the use of weapons, having previously wielded daggers and been crack shots with bows that were surprisingly effective for their size.

---

Although pixies shrink in 5E compared with prior editions, all agree that they are much smaller than humans, and they even make halflings look tall. Despite their magical nature, there's nothing to indicate that they aren't physical, biological beings (except possibly the resistance to damage in 3E) rather than some neutral counterpart to demons or angels.

Smaller size does bring some scaling issues with it but, for the most part, nothing that's especially insurmountable, since there are obviously many mammals that are much smaller than pixies. Indeed, the 5E pixie is sufficiently small that, especially with light bones or the like, they might actually be able to fly without absurdly large wings or much in the way of magical assistance - they're considerably smaller than, say, a golden eagle. For that matter, the larger pixies of other editions could technically fly without magic, but they'd need at least a six-foot (180 cm) wingspan to do so, which they clearly don't possess.

The size of the brain does present more of a problem if we're sticking to real-world biology. Scaling issues mean that it must be smaller than that of a human infant, which makes it hard to believe that they'd be more intelligent than a human adult. A certain degree of improved compactness or unusual architecture can get round this - crows, for example, are a lot more intelligent than you'd expect for their size and mice aren't exactly dim by animal standards, but neither are going to write the works of Shakespeare any time soon. So it's likely that, here, real-world neurology is taking a back seat to a fey soul of some kind.

The wings also do present issues other than their size. The actual structure of them isn't much of a problem, with some sort of strong, possibly chitinous, material composing their surface (covered with microscopic coloured scales if they resemble butterflies or moths) and veins running through them just as they do in real insect wings. But it's less clear how they would attach to the skeleton and musculature, both of which they'd need to do in order to function.

If pixie wings fold as those of insects do - and, in fairness, most of the pictures are ambiguous on this point, so they might not - they require a complex joint at the base to allow multiple different motions, rather than just flapping. The wings seem to originate to either side of the spine in the upper back so, since they can't be anchored to an exoskeleton as they are in real insects, the joint must either be on an extra set of clavicle-like bones below the shoulders, or perhaps connected to the rear part of some of the ribs. 

Although small size and a correspondingly light body help, the flight muscles would still need to be large which, per the usual vision of what such creatures should look like, they don't seem to be. For that matter, if the muscles worked like those on insect wings, they'd have to run through where the lungs should be on a mammal, occupying much of the chest cavity. So, while magic might not be required to keep pixies aloft, it probably is more manoeuvrability in the air, or for take-off and landing, perhaps by providing a boost to modified intercostal muscles.

The various unique powers of pixies are, however, all magical, and these don't change much from edition to edition, including invisibility, the ability to cause confusion, read thoughts, create floating lights, and so on. At least in the earlier editions, there's an indication of a reasonably sophisticated culture, considering that at the very least they own (and presumably make) fine tailored clothing and magical weapons. It's clearly one that stays very far apart from typical human society, and therefore pays little, if any, role in the wider history of most game worlds.

DW Monsters: Ood

The final race on my initial list of key humanoid ‘monster’ races is also the only one unique to the modern era of the show. (I’m not currently planning on suspending the series after this post, although it will remain low priority; I’ll explain where it’s going next once I get there).

Appearances

By far the most recent of the seven races I’m listing as key humanoids in this series, the Ood made their debut in the Tenth Doctor story The Impossible Planet in 2006, over 30 years after the next oldest on that list. They returned two years later in Planet of the Ood, in which we learn of their origin, and have made significant appearances in three further TV stories since then, most recently Flux. That’s ignoring short “tardisodes” and the like, some of which have also featured them, and the occasional brief cameo elsewhere.

D&D Monsters: Couatls

The couatl has its basis in Mesoamerican mythology, although it's arguable how much it resembles the original. The name is apparently inspired by that of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl the "feathered serpent". In reality, coatl simply means "snake" so it doesn't refer to any specific mythic creature taken on its own. Having said that, snakes were important to the Mesoamerican people, and associated with many of their gods. In particular, several of them were feathered, magically merging the features of a flying creature with one that crawls along the ground. They seem to have been regarded as divine beings, which fits with the original 1E description of their habitat and relationship with humans.

---

1E

As originally seen, the couatl has a head and body that closely resemble those of a regular snake. While the presence of an extra set of teeth between the fangs is unusual, in other respects, the arrangement of the teeth resembles those of snakes such as cobras, kraits, and mambas, rather than say, rattlesnakes or boomslangs. While the head is at least partially covered with scales like that of a normal snake, the couatl's body is feathered, with longer feathers along the back and what appear to be softer, downy, ones on the underside. 

D&D Monsters: Beholders

The beholder is, perhaps, the single most iconic monster in D&D - the one creature that, more than any other, says "this is D&D" rather than some other fantasy setting. That's largely due to its unique appearance, which is quite unlike anything that exists in myth or legend or, indeed, in prior fiction. It was created, not by Gygax, but by one of the players in his original campaign, first appearing in a supplement for 0E, and has successfully stood the test of time ever since.

---

1E

As originally shown, the beholder is a spherical creature covered in irregular, flat, "chitinous" plates. A wide mouth occupies much of the lower half and is lined with small pointed teeth similar to those of reptiles. There is a single large lidless eye above the mouth and ten much smaller eyestalks arranged in a ring around the upper surface. The latter are protected by segmented chitin and have also have lidless eyes, similar to those of a snail or slug, although the eyestalks presumably aren't retractable. Severing the eyestalks doesn't otherwise hurt the creature, which suggests that it's able to shut off the blood supply to a severed stalk - or perhaps that it doesn't have blood. There are no other visible features, such as nostrils.

DW Monsters: Cybermen

Mk V

The Cybermen are surely second only to the Daleks as iconic Doctor Who monsters. It also seems to me that they are most significant such race that could be described as “humanoid”, and so are arguably overdue for an appearance here in my list of key races in that category.

This one, by the way, is going to be a long post. There’s a lot to cover!

Note: Since I started this series of posts, Cubicle 7 have announced a 5E version of their existing Doctor Who RPG. I'll continue posting my 5E interpretation of stats here, at least for the time being. Although it's likely they'll be very different from the "official" versions, not least because there will presumably be some difference in the fine details of the systems, these posts do at least include my reasoning.

Appearances

The Cybermen have the distinction of being the first “monster” other than the Daleks to appear in more than one story. They are also the oldest of the races in my pick of the top seven humanoid monsters, dating back all the way to the First Doctor’s era and his final story The Tenth Planet. Frequently re-invented since that first appearance, they appear no less than four times in the Second Doctor’s era (whereas the Daleks only appear twice). The Third Doctor is the only classic-era Doctor not to have a TV story featuring them, with Doctors Four to Seven having one major Cyberman story each, not counting their brief appearance in The Five Doctors. Skipping the Eighth and Ninth Doctors because of their short runs, every modern Doctor from Ten onwards has faced them. In total, that’s 23 stories featuring Cybermen as more than brief clips or mentions.

D&D Monsters: Otyughs

There has been some speculation that the otyugh is based on the tentacled monster in the trash compactor in the first Star Wars film (referred to in the tie-in material as a "dianoga"). Certainly, there is a resemblance, especially given that we don't see the whole creature in the film; based on that alone, the rest of the body could look like almost anything. On the other hand, the film only came out a few months before the otyugh made its debut so it would have to have been a very last-minute addition to the 1E Monster Manual if that really was the source. More likely, it's a coincidence, leaving the D&D monster as an original creation.

D&D Monsters: Ropers

The roper is another of the "does what it says on the tin" monsters that are original to D&D. Alongside such creatures as trappers and piercers, it's clearly intended to disguise itself as part of the background and attack unexpectedly but does have a more distinctive look and an unusual method of attack that make it more memorable than they are, with the result that it consistently appears in the core Monster Manual books of each edition.

---

1E

In the original Monster Manual, the roper is a tapered pillar-like creature with a single large eye above the mouth near the top of the body - there are no apparent nostrils or ears. The eye has an odd brow-like structure that seems to partially cover the upper surface; this might be a ridge to protect it from falling debris, since it lives in caves and there's plausibly a lid that flips down from it as well. The mouth opens horizontally and has pointed isodont teeth in both jaws, although it seems unlikely that the creature has much of an internal skeleton to attach them to. The base is limbless and flat to the ground, while a vertically arranged row of three apparent tentacles arise from each side.

DW Monsters: Autons

It’s arguably a bit of a stretch to describe the autons as a “humanoid race”, but nonetheless, they are the fifth race I’m going to describe here.

Appearances

The autons make their debut in the first Third Doctor story, Spearhead from Space, making them the third race to appear in my list from that era (which is itself the only era to appear on the list more than once). They reappear only once more in the classic series, in Terror of the Autons at the start of the next season, and twice in the modern series, most notably in the Ninth Doctor’s debut story, Rose.

Outside of the TV series, they featured in a three-part straight-to-video series in the 1990s which, as with Sontarans and Zygons, indicates a certain degree of popularity. That, of course, existed outside the Doctor Who license since autons, like many other original races, have separate copyright status. But in material officially licensed by the BBC, they have so far appeared in three novels, two with the Sixth Doctor, and one with the Tenth. In the audios, they have faced the Doctor only once to date, but they have appeared in a Torchwood audio and a four-part box set featuring UNIT that, in some respects, updates Spearhead from Space for the 2010s. And, as one might expect, there are also a parade of shorter appearances in comics and short stories.

Description and Biology

The autons are not organic creatures, but plastic objects animated by the Nestene Consciousness. The Nestene themselves are alien but are less frequently faced as direct opponents than the autons proper (typically only at the end of an auton story, if then). So I will be dealing with them later.

It’s possible to classify the autons into three basic types. The standard version are the animated plastic mannequins, often in the form of shop window dummies; these are the main focus in the two classic era stories, and in Rose. They are, in effect, the Nestene’s foot soldiers, although presumably, they use other forms when invading planets that aren’t Earth. Secondly, there are more sophisticated plastic humanoids designed to duplicate specific people and used to infiltrate human society and lay the groundwork for a full-scale invasion. Finally, there are animated objects such as dolls, telephone cords, and wheelie bins – I’m going to exclude these from the post since they vary too much and animated objects often already exist with descriptions in RPGs.

The mannequins and animated objects possess only a very small part of the Nestene Consciousness, so far as one can tell, and simply stop working when the animating Nestene dies or is driven off. This is not, however, true of the auton ‘duplicates’ used for infiltration, which are evidently capable of independent existence without the presence of a Nestene; they are entirely controlled by it while it is present, but once the link is severed, they are able to continue as separate entities, sometimes unaware of what they really are.

Game Attributes

There is little evidence that autons are significantly stronger than humans and the ‘dummy’ autons are probably less agile – although effective enough at shooting, which is a more overriding consideration in most systems. Where they excel is their physical resilience, since they don’t tire and have no blood or vital organs that can be injured by bullets or sharp stabbing weapons. Weapons that bludgeon or slice are a different matter since the plastic they are usually made of does not seem to be exceptionally tough. But even then, losing a limb is no problem to an auton beyond the mere physical inconvenience of not being able to use it. It’s worth noting that, in some systems (especially some older ones), this could make an auton an unusually effective opponent. Since they don’t seem to be so on the show, this may require some adjustment to counteract the advantages they would gain. Being mass-produced, it is unlikely that the mannequin-style autons show much variation in their physical statistics, although the duplicates will necessarily be less consistent in form.

Auton duplicates seem to be capable of some independent thought, animated by a larger portion of the Nestene Consciousness and, in some cases, being able to survive as discrete beings after its departure. Thus, they can be given their own mental statistics, although there is little to argue that these would be any better than those of humans. Depending on how the attributes are used in different systems, they might even be lower. There’s a case to be made that they aren’t very charismatic, but they do seem to be at least reasonably good at deceiving humans into thinking they’re just behaving strangely, something that could be directly tied to charisma (or equivalent) in some systems.

The mannequin autons are a different matter. They seem to be directly controlled by the Nestene, so that most of what they do would be directed by its mental statistics, rather than their own. In D&D terms, for example, they are essentially ‘plastic golems’ and can be treated in a similar manner. They have essentially no intelligence of their own although, again, how different systems may handle that is likely to vary. For the same reason, while the Nestenes themselves may be different, independent autons do not necessarily have any particular alignment.

Special Abilities

In some episodes, we see auton duplicates controlling other autons, primarily the non-humanoid ‘animated object’ sort. However, this can probably best be described as the Nestene channelling their own powers through the perceptions of the duplicate. That is to say, it’s an ability of the Nestene, not of the autons.

Other than that, we are left with the concealed guns that the mannequin autons, and some auton duplicates, hide within their wrists. These are regular blasters, powered from some kind of internal energy cell, and seem to be short-range. Not all autons have them – or, if they do, they don’t use them in some circumstances when they’d logically be useful – but they seem reasonably common among the mannequins, and less so for the duplicates. So, for these purposes, I will assume that the typical mannequin has one and the typical duplicate does not.

---

5E - Auton Mannequin

Medium construct, unaligned

Armour Class: 12 (plastic body)

Hit Points: 34 (4d8+16)

Speed: 20 ft.

STR 12 (+1)	DEX 10 (+0)	CON 18 (+4)
INT 3 (-4)	WIS 8 (-1)	CHA 1 (-5)

Combat Skills: Melee Attack +3, Missile Attack +2

Damage Resistances: Lightning, piercing, psychic

Damage Immunities: Poison

Condition Immunities: Charmed, exhaustion, paralysed, poisoned, stunned

Senses: Passive Perception 9

Wrist Gun. Ranged Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 2d6 fire damage.

Challenge: ½ (100 XP)

5E - Auton Duplicate

Medium construct, neutral

Armour Class: 10 (natural)

Hit Points: 43 (5d8+20)

Speed: 30 ft.

STR 12 (+1)	DEX 10 (+0)	CON 18 (+4)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 8 (-1)

Skills: Deception +1

Combat Skills: Melee Attack +1, Missile Attack +2

Damage Resistances: Lightning, piercing

Damage Immunities: Poison

Condition Immunities: Exhaustion, paralysed, poisoned

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Wrist Gun. Ranged Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 2d6 fire damage.

Challenge: ¼ (50 XP)

 

BRP - Auton Mannequin

STR 1D6+9 (12-13)	CON 1D6+15 (18-19)	SIZ 1D6+9 (12-13)
POW 2D6 (7)	DEX 1D6+6 (9-10)
Hit Points: 16	Move: 8
Base SR: 5	Damage Bonus: +1D4

Armour: 3-point plastic body

Combat Skills: Brawl 50%, Energy Pistol 60%

Plastic Construct: The auton does not need to breathe, eat, or sleep and is immune to disease and poison. If using hit locations, each location must be destroyed separately. If the head is destroyed, the auton cannot sense its surroundings, and ceases to function.

BRP - Auton Duplicate

STR 2D6+6 (13)	CON 2D6+12 (19)	SIZ 2D6+6 (13)
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 3D6 (10-11)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 16	Move: 10
Base SR: 5	Damage Bonus: +1D4

Armour: 1-point plastic body

Skills: Fast Talk 30%, Persuade 40%

Combat Skills: Brawl 25%, Energy Pistol 50%

Plastic Construct: The auton does not need to breathe, eat, or sleep and is immune to disease and poison. If using hit locations, each location must be destroyed separately. If the head is destroyed, the auton cannot sense its surroundings, and ceases to function.

GURPS - Auton Mannequin

ST 12	DX 10	IQ 4	HT 12
Thrust: 1d-1		Swing: 1d+2
Speed: 6		Move: 4

Advantages: Damage Resistance +2, Doesn't Breathe, Doesn't Eat or Drink, Doesn't Sleep, Injury Tolerance (homogenous, no blood), Innate Attack (burning, 2d), Very Fit

Disadvantages: Automaton, Cannot Speak, Unhealing (total)

Skills: Beam Weapons (pistol)/TL8-13, Brawling-12

GURPS - Auton Duplicate

ST 12	DX 10	IQ 10	HT 12
Thrust: 1d-1		Swing: 1d+2
Speed: 6		Move: 6

Advantages: Doesn't Breathe, Doesn't Eat or Drink, Doesn't Sleep, Injury Tolerance (homogenous, no blood), Very Fit

Disadvantages: Unhealing (total)

Skills: Acting-10, Beam Weapons (pistol)/TL8-11, Brawling-11

Savage Worlds - Auton Mannequin

Agility: d6	Smarts: d4	Spirit: d10
Strength: d8	Vigour: d12

Skills: Fighting d4, Shooting d6

Edges: Armour +2, Construct, No Vital Organs

Hindrances: Mute

Animated Object: When not being controlled by a Nestene, an auton mannequin is inert and incapable of taking any action.

Pace: 4                  Parry: 4                Toughness: 10 (2)                   Size: 0

Savage Worlds - Auton Duplicate

Agility: d6	Smarts: d6	Spirit: d8
Strength: d8	Vigour: d12

Skills: Persuasion d6, Shooting d4

Edges: Construct, No Vital Organs

Pace: 6                  Parry: 2                Toughness: 8                   Size: 0

STA - Auton Mannequin

Control: 9	Fitness: 11	Presence: 7
Daring: 11	Insight: 4	Reason: 4
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 13	Resistance: 2

Traits: Wrist Gun: The auton has a type 1 phaser built into their wrist. Machine 2.

STA - Auton Duplicate

Control: 9	Fitness: 11	Presence: 9
Daring: 10	Insight: 7	Reason: 9
Command: 2	Security: 1	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 12	Resistance: 1

Traits: Machine 1.

D&D Monsters: Mind Flayers

The mind flayer is a creature original to D&D and, like many of Gygax's early creations has a "does what it says on the tin" style name. To my mind, it's one of the better such names - although almost anything is better than, say, "lurker above". The look of the creature is obviously reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, and Gygax stated that it was inspired by the cover of a book by Brian Lumley that does, indeed, feature a being from the Mythos. But, as it happens, it isn't the Big C himself that's on the cover, but a chthonian, a creature with a similar name, to be sure, but actually rather different. Still, it has tentacles and this, seemingly, was enough.

---

1E

The mind flayer goes through relatively little change in physical appearance through the various editions of the game, to the extent that the few changes that are apparent could easily be put down to variations between individuals of the same species. Even the clothing doesn't change much, with the race clearly having a preference for robes and insisting on a skull motif somewhere on their belt. 

D&D Monsters: Umber Hulks

The origins of the D&D umber hulk are not clear. It predates what we'd now call 1E, first appearing in the Greyhawk supplement, and it has been proposed that it may be based on one of the same set of plastic toys that inspired the owlbear, rust monster, and bulette. If so, it doesn't closely resemble any of them, while the other three are very clearly drawn to resemble the toys in the 1E Monster Manual. So, if it's inspired by them at all, the connection is still vague enough that, to all intents and purposes, it's an original creation. Certainly, its signature power is original, doubtless intended to be related to its unusual appearance and, while evil sorcerers might be able to do something similar in myth, the same is not generally true of monsters.

---

1E

As originally depicted, the umber hulk is an upright bipedal creature with a powerful, squat build. Allegedly, it's similar enough in form to a human to be mistaken for one from a distance in dim light; this seems a bit of a stretch even if you can't see the head, but perhaps the writers were thinking of something like ogres. The skin looks smooth, although it could have fine scales or sparse hair for all we know, and lacks such features as a navel or teats. The legs end in three-toed feet, with one toe a small claw to the rear that may help to grip onto rock, and the others broader and supporting the body weight. The hands have four clawed digits, notably including an opposable thumb, although there is no other indication of tool use.

The head is obviously the most distinctive feature. It's broad with a very short neck and has a wide mouth with reptilian-looking teeth and no apparent nostrils. More significantly, a pair of large serrated pincers, reminiscent of the mandibles of a stag beetle, project from the cheek region. These are stated to be used in attack, and could also grab and manipulate food as it is being eaten or bitten, but a pair of shorter curved tusks positioned medially to the pincers have a less obvious function. They don't even come close to meeting in the middle, so they can't be used in chewing or tearing at anything that could easily fit inside the mouth making it hard to see how they would be used. Finally, there are the eyes, with a close-set pair of vertebrate-like eyes in the middle and a pair of compound eyes positioned on the periphery.

Oddly, the umber hulk is not, in fact, umber, but is black over most of its body with a yellowish-grey patch on what's anatomically the venter. Since their heavy build makes it unlikely that they are agile, and they are certainly very slow-moving, the hide must be as tough as plate steel to give them the stated armour rating. They have their own language and are said to be as intelligent as humans. They live in what appear to be small family groups implying some degree of sociality.

---

2E

In 2E, the appearance of the umber hulk changes significantly. They are said to be 'scaly', but the picture only shows a thick hide with sparse hair (there may, of course, be scales too small to see). Heavy plates of what could be either bone or chitin surround the upper arms and thighs and the outer parts of the lower arms - those on the shins may, or may not, wrap around the back. There is an additional armoured nodule over the patella, and what look like scutes on the hands and fingers. Further plates cover the shoulders, the pectorals and the front of the abdomen - the latter including a depression that might contain a navel. All of this goes some way to explaining the armour rating, but it's also worth noting that the unarmoured parts seem to show vertebrate like musculature under the skin, and there's a suggestion of ribs on the chest.

While the hands have the same number of digits as before, including the thumb, the feet have six short claw-like toes that look like they'd have difficulty supporting the creature's weight - the posture shown and the length of the arms suggests that it might knuckle-walk like an ape to compensate for this. The head is entirely enclosed in armour, with the main pincers smoother than before, and the overall shape much narrower. Although we're told the eyes are all small, this only seems to be true of the central pair, which are, in fact, too small to make out whether or not they are vertebrate-like in form. The creature does, however, clearly have antennae, increasing its insectile look.

We're told that they give birth to litters of one to three young and that there is some degree of parental care by the mother. Although they retain humanoid levels of intelligence, there's still no indication of language or even tool use, let alone a meaningful culture.

---

3E

In a break with previous interpretations, the 3E umber hulk is now umber coloured. It is also considerably more insectile, with chitinous plates covering almost the whole of the body. Nonetheless, it still has ape-like hands and, of course, remains four-limbed. The limbs are oddly shaped, with massive lower portions and more spindly upper ones, something that would surely cause something of its size and weight difficulties in moving about. We're back to three toes on the feet, all of them short, clawed, and forward-pointing, giving the feet an appearance between those of the two previous editions.

There is more of a neck now, and the head has shifted to a globular shape with a much narrower mouth that makes it possible to use those inner mandibles to help it tear at and eat flesh. There are still no visible nostrils, although there is a row of what could be spiracles along the sides of the chest. The antennae are more prominent and the arrangement of the eyes is different, with the compound ones below and only slightly lateral to the smaller vertebrate-style ones.

Although it still moves slowly, it is slightly more agile than one might expect and its intelligence rating has increased slightly (although still close to the human average). It turns out to be about as strong as a troll, which makes sense for its stated size if not, perhaps, the lack of upper arm musculature.

---

5E

After the two previous changes in appearance, the umber hulk remains broadly similar in form in 5E. This version has more solidly built thighs and upper arms than that in 3E and there is more of a suggestion of ribs on the chest (these could, however, just be ridging on the chitinous plates). The head, does, however, shift towards a slightly more insectile look. Specifically, the umber hulk has labial palps beneath the jaw, although quite what they would be used for is unclear. Furthermore, the inner set of eyes, while retaining the position they had in 3E appear to be arthropod-style ocelli rather than vertebrate-like, with no evident pupils, eyelids, or canthi. 

The statistics have, as usual in 5E, been toned down a little, but even so, the umber hulk is now stronger than a troll, and only just short of a hill giant. The intelligence has also dropped back to the original level. Umber hulks were specifically stated to be unable to speak in 4E, but they can in both 3E and 5E, regaining their own unique language in the latter. One oddity is that the tunnels they dig are eight feet tall but only five feet in width (2.4x1.5 metres), implying that they walk upright through them - one would have thought that they would just burrow them head-first, which would surely be quicker, but apparently not.

---

The umber hulk then, has become progressively more like an arthropod as its depiction has evolved through the editions. But, even if we ignore the earlier illustrations, this doesn't necessarily mean that it is one, since it obviously has some features that don't fit. The four-limbed form suggests a tetrapod, and the overall shape of the body is closer to that of a tetrapod vertebrate than is that of the similarly quadrupedal rust monster.

The forelimbs, for example, are divided into two segments, separated by an elbow joint. This contrasts with the four segments of an insect leg. The hindlegs are less clearcut, since they appear to have three segments, but its entirely possible that this is a digitigrade stance, with the metacarpals forming the third segment, as they do in dogs and other such animals. The arrangement of the digits on the extremities, especially the hands, support this since, again, they don't look at all insect-like and have same number of phalangeal joints as tetrapod digits. There is also no clear abdomen in the arthropod sense of the word, with the legs being attached at the hips, rather than further forward as they would be on an insect or spider.

If this is correct, it implies that most of the internal anatomy of the umber hulk follows the vertebrate form. There are lungs and a heart in the chest and liver, kidneys, bowels, and so on in the (tetrapod) abdomen. Furthermore, we would expect an internal skeleton that is merely supplemented by the external armour, much as it is in turtles or even armadillos. From a physics perspective, this makes sense, since a pure exoskeleton isn't likely to be strong enough to support the weight of something so large - of course, the existence of ankhegs and the like in the D&D universe implies that things might be different there, so it's not a guarantee.

It's with the head that this most seems to break down. Even so, it's notable that the jaws hinge horizontally, as they do in vertebrates, and each possesses triangular teeth, something they don't do in insects and the like. Countering this we have the "mandibles" which have no clear counterpart in any real-world vertebrate - they don't seem to be tusks like those of an elephant, for example. Thus, while it's plausible that there is a bony skull underneath the chitinous head-sheild, and one complete with a lower jaw, there must also be some major modifications.

Perhaps there are additional bony plates in the angle of the jaw, jointed to the temporal and/or zygomatic bones, to which the mandibles are attached. Or maybe these are dermal plates of chitin, anchored by ligaments to the underlying skull, but not part of its bony structure. There must also be extra openings in the skull, to allow for the additional eyes and for the nerves and blood vessels that supply the antennae.

Attaching compound eyes to a vertebrate nervous system isn't a problem, anatomically speaking, since they still have an optic nerve that works in essentially the same way. Nor is it an issue that the umber hulk must have a double set of optic nerves, since these could attach to the brain close by one another. Similarly, the third, fourth, and sixth cranial nerves, responsible for eye movement, could also be duplicated, although they might not be if the compound eyes, in particular, are fixed in position.

Whether the antennae also need extra nerves depends on what they are for, since this differs in real-world arthropods. The umber hulk has no visible ears, so the antennae could be for sensing sound, in which case, given their position on the head in the 5E illustration, they may simply co-opt the usual auditory nerves. But then again, it has no nostrils, either, so they might smell the air, using, or replacing the usual olfactory nerves. It's also not impossible that the antennae both hear and smell, in which case, either set of cranial nerves is an option.

The lack of nostrils does, however, raise the obvious question of how the creature breathes, especially if we assume that the lungs are in the chest. Here, we must assume a significant departure from the tetrapod norm. There are basically two possibilities, one of which is that the umber hulk breathes only through its mouth, entirely lacking a nasopharynx and nasal cavities, but otherwise with a typical respiratory layout. The other is that the spiracles visible on the sides of the body in 3E and (less clearly) 5E are respiratory openings, implying that multiple short tubes run to the lateral surface of each of the lungs. This would have some advantages, since the animal couldn't choke, and would be rather hard to suffocate by physical action alone - there are a lot of openings to cover up. 

If, on other hand, the spiracles aren't respiratory, they could still be sensory organs, since there's no reason that the organs of smell have to be attached to the breathing apparatus, as we see in a number of non-mammalian animals in the real world.

While the 2E illustration includes what appears to be a navel, implying that umber hulks are mammalian - a primate-like body with an insectile head - the later images do not. Thus, while they are tetrapods, umber hulks probably don't fit within any of the real world tetrapod classes; they're perhaps more like reptiles than anything else, but they aren't literally reptilian. For instance, living underground, in a stable thermal environment with insulating rock above them, they may well be cold-blooded and almost certainly won't have much need to regulate their internal body temperature. 

It seems most likely that umber hulks lay eggs, or perhaps are ovoviviparous, holding the egg inside their body until it hatches but lacking a placenta or umbilical cord. None of the pictures show anything that's identifiable as external genitalia, but, even assuming the pictures aren't of females, they could well retract any intromittent organs into their bodies when not in use, so we can't assume that they aren't there, or in the usual place.

There isn't much to say about the umber hulk's signature power since it's so obviously pure magic. Early descriptions imply that it might have something to do with the odd-looking appearance of the creature confusing those who look at it, but it's not as if it's non-Euclidean, and, anyway, the effect is more potent than mere befuddlement (although less so 5E than it was in 1E). It's also notable that the creature needs to be conscious to use the power, which it is implied is under conscious control and can be turned off if necessary.